Tuesday 31 July 2012

Book Review- Shift by Kim Curran


Title: Shift
 Author: Kim  Curran
Series:  N/A
Published:  4 September 2012 by Strange Chemistry
Length: 416 pages
Warnings: a lot of gore, 11+
Source: Publishers
Other info: Shift is Kim’s debut.
Summary : When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he's not so average after all. He's a 'Shifter'. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he's ever made. At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.

Review: Scott Tyler is a Shifter. He's able to change any decision he's ever made and replace the time with a different set of event. He loves the idea, but soon realises that not all Shifters do so with the intention of winning a bet. A few Shifters have gone rogue and are trying to stop the deterioration of Shifting abilities after adolescene using really...unconventional methods.
The idea behind shifting is original and really really cool. It definitely gets you thinking, as does the prologue.
Things get going really quickly. Aubrey, ARES (the organisation that organises Shifters) and the concept of Shifting come in within the first 50 pages, and are easy to pick up.
The training/getting to grips with the powers takes up about half the book. It's definitely intriguing and nice to see him make friends with fellow Shifters and learn theory and whatnot, but there were times when I wanted the story to note on a little bit. And then it did. We get a short overview of the time, and then a the
mystery builds up with mysterious killings and Shifts to cover these up. Ooh. In terms of interest levels: high, then dip a little, then really up high until the end.
The characters are likable in various measures. Aubrey and Scott were good characters that kept you rooting for them. Benjo...I have no idea how to describe him. He's a little bit lovable, but really quite disgusting when you think about it. My favourite (collectively)has to be the group of Shifter kids. I would have liked to see a bit more
development from all of them though.
The writing was good, clearly conveying Scott's attitude to things. I love how Kim doesn't shy away from graphic descriptions. This book is not for the squeamish,especially round the halfway mark.
The ending was a bit sudden, but logical and really nice. It's sudden because everything's ramping up and you know there's only a couple of pages left but you can't see how it's going to end and then it does in a really awesome way.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a novel with a fun idea and a fast moving plot that
keeps you reading to the end.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for taking time to read this!
Comments are much loved.
Nina xxx

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger... Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...